[Hiring] Forward Deployed UX Researcher @Air

Role Description

As a Forward Deployed UX Researcher/Designer, you will embed directly with our customers in the field to understand in detail their mission and how they evaluate continuous readiness. You will do that through a deep understanding of the end-user's jobs, problems, needs, and friction to achieve their goals. You turn this understanding into a product direction and work with other forward-deployed roles to design and develop innovative AI-native solutions to create a 10x better way of satisfying customer needs, instantly. This is a highly collaborative, fast-paced, customer-facing role where you own the discovery work end-to-end—from framing the question to delivering insights that direct what we deliver.

To succeed in this role, you are a curious and rigorous problem solver who values outcomes over process, exercises exceptional judgment when balancing competing priorities, and thrives in ambiguous, high-stakes, empowered environments.

This role is a full-time position located out of our office in Arlington, VA / Pittsburgh, PA / San Francisco, CA / Anywhere in the US. This role may require up to 75% travel.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship is required
• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Design, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Worked in a startup or entrepreneurial environment.
• Experience conducting applied UX or product research in a professional setting, including planning studies and synthesizing findings independently.
• Strong command of qualitative methods (interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing) and comfort with mixed-methods work.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and a strong desire to work in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills—able to tell a clear, compelling story with research and influence cross-functional partners.
• Experience in AIND to generate prototypes and validate.

Requirements

• A current U.S. security clearance, or the ability to obtain one with Air’s sponsorship.
• Experience researching complex, domain-heavy, or enterprise software, ideally in defense, government, or other regulated settings.
• Experience working within the boundaries of a federally accredited software environment.
• Experience in a customer-facing, consulting, or embedded role.

Benefits

• We firmly believe that past performance is the best indicator of future performance.
• If you thrive while building solutions to complex problems, are a self-starter, and are passionate about making an impact in global security, we’re eager to hear from you.

Company Description

Air is the leader in Enterprise Readiness. Our mission is to establish readiness as a real-time condition that is continuously achieved. Today, a dangerous Readiness Gap exists between what the front line needs and what is delivered. Our AI-native platform, Air Enterprise Readiness, aligns development, production, delivery, and sustainment into one coordinated execution system for government agencies and industrial suppliers. By revealing true capacity, exposing real constraints, coordinating resources, and executing at the speed of operational demands, the front line gets what it needs to succeed.